Out of the gate, Shiffrin put down a solid first run that left her in second place heading into her final plunge down the mountain, needing only to make up two-tenths of a second on the leader to take the top spot on the podium. On her second run she blew the course away, hitting crisp turns and taking gold with what looked like relative ease.

It's already Shiffrin's second gold medal, after the young skier took home gold in the Ladies' Slalom event at Sochi 2014. Although any athlete would be thrilled to add just one such piece of hardware to their trophy case, Shiffrin's Olympic mission is far from over.

It's an ambitious goal that will likely mean she's competing every day until closing ceremony, but if she succeeds, she'll have a shot at Olympic history.

No skier, man or woman, has ever won more than three gold medals at one Olympics, or four golds over the course of their Olympic career. This year, Shiffrin has the chance to tie or even break both of those marks, and could become the most decorated skier in Olympic history.